Rockets to talk to Atlanta’s Josh Smith, who played with Dwight Howard in AAU

Share this:

LOS ANGELES — The Rockets moved from Sunday’s late-night meeting with Dwight Howard to a scheduled Monday sitdown with his one-time AAU teammate, Josh Smith, a person with knowledge of the meeting said.

The sessions are considered related, rather than Smith’s being a backup plan if the Rockets fail to land their top target.

After the meeting with Howard, the Rockets’ free-agent efforts shifted to adding players who would fit well with him, a person with knowledge of their thinking said.

In addition to Smith, the Rockets expressed interest in free-agent forwards Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Corey Brewer, though Dunleavy later reached agreement with the Bulls.

Howard is interested in the Rockets’ immediate and long-term roster plans as he determines if they will be able to build a title contender. The Rockets consider that a good sign because they believe their ability to become a contender is greater than that of the other teams Howard will consider. It also could have sent them looking for more immediate help.

Signing Smith, however, will be considerably more complicated if the Rockets also land Howard. Because signing Howard would fill the Rockets’ remaining cap space, they would have to work a sign-and-trade deal with the Hawks to also sign Smith.

Smith earned $13.2 million last season. The Rockets would not seem to have the means to match that without including both center Omer Asik and guard Jeremy Lin (whose combined salaries would count as $16.7 million against the cap) in a sign-and-trade. If Howard is in the fold, the Rockets are more likely to put Asik’s salary together with a combination of their next-largest guaranteed contracts (Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas or Royce White), but even that might not be enough to land Smith.

As a contingency if the Rockets do not sign Howard, they would have more than enough cap room for Smith but would not consider themselves a title contender without other significant additions. A person familiar with their plans said if the Rockets do not land Howard, they will likely structure contracts as they did Carlos Delfino’s free-agent deal last summer, with team options on the second and third seasons, in order to maintain cap flexibility for next summer.

Howard and Smith were AAU teammates in Atlanta, but Smith has seemed ready to move on. And Howard, despite his meeting with the Hawks on Monday, has never shown a great desire to play in his hometown.

Smith, 27, averaged 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and a career-best 4.2 assists per game last season.